There is an interesting and perverse symmetry to Trump’s immoral (and threat to national security) pardoning of about 1600 J6 criminals, and his immoral (and also a threat to national security) slap in the face refusal to allow 1600 Afghans who served the U.S. during the war to immigrate here. He’s letting bad people out of jail, and (in…
There is an interesting and perverse symmetry to Trump’s immoral (and threat to national security) pardoning of about 1600 J6 criminals, and his immoral (and also a threat to national security) slap in the face refusal to allow 1600 Afghans who served the U.S. during the war to immigrate here. He’s letting bad people out of jail, and (insofar as they served the U.S. at risk to themselves in a hot war) refusing to let good people into the country, to taste that same freedom.
The J6ers are a more obvious threat to national security. But coldly cutting ties w our Afghan allies makes it harder in future to cultivate allies, including those w valuable language skills and knowledge of culture and terrain, etc.
Trump is of course taking the short, self-interested view, because he’s not making these decisions by considering the long-term interests of America. As w virtually every decision he makes, the question he’s asking is: what’s in it for me? That should be the sign on his Oval Office desk. Not: “the buck stops here” (he has openly repudiated such a slogan, see Covid pandemic response), but: “What’s in it for me?” That is the dark North Star for essentially all his decisions.
He wants the J6ers freed, to be his loyal Brownshirts.
And he’s slapping our Afghan allies in the face, bc he knows his base will approve of keeping brown-skinned Muslims out of the country, no matter how bravely they served the U.S.
There is an interesting and perverse symmetry to Trump’s immoral (and threat to national security) pardoning of about 1600 J6 criminals, and his immoral (and also a threat to national security) slap in the face refusal to allow 1600 Afghans who served the U.S. during the war to immigrate here. He’s letting bad people out of jail, and (insofar as they served the U.S. at risk to themselves in a hot war) refusing to let good people into the country, to taste that same freedom.
The J6ers are a more obvious threat to national security. But coldly cutting ties w our Afghan allies makes it harder in future to cultivate allies, including those w valuable language skills and knowledge of culture and terrain, etc.
Trump is of course taking the short, self-interested view, because he’s not making these decisions by considering the long-term interests of America. As w virtually every decision he makes, the question he’s asking is: what’s in it for me? That should be the sign on his Oval Office desk. Not: “the buck stops here” (he has openly repudiated such a slogan, see Covid pandemic response), but: “What’s in it for me?” That is the dark North Star for essentially all his decisions.
He wants the J6ers freed, to be his loyal Brownshirts.
And he’s slapping our Afghan allies in the face, bc he knows his base will approve of keeping brown-skinned Muslims out of the country, no matter how bravely they served the U.S.
He is consistently self-interested and horrid.
And it’s only just begun.